Monday, April 25, 2011

At the Garden Gate was made with HERO ARTS stamps: Florish Grids and Messages. The Florish Grid was stamped onto printed paper. A small cut
out of a fairy from patterned paper and a flower with a large button and twine were added.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

It's Springtime ... and even though there was a layer of snow on the ground this morning ... it still feels like Spring to me! There are buds on the forsythia bush, the tulips and lilies are starting to come up and the birds are singing!

Last evening when I went for a walk to the old apple orchard in the back, the wind was blowing and the branches and the old leaves were rustling ... to my delight I spotted a beautiful red fox ... she spotted me too ... she looked behind and was unsure if she should proceed, then returned to the hill behind her. I know what's on that hill :) ... the foxes den ... I know that because we have seen families of fox there in the past. They are a sight to behold. I have many photos of them but no longer have them on my camera so I'm not able to upload them to show you. I am hoping that we see a family of fox this year. The little ones are adorable ... they all have their own personality.

This Spring card was made with HERO ARTS stamps Misty Garden Pattern and Antique Background, the image of the birds and nest is from The Grapics Fairy.

Monday, April 18, 2011

I wanted to share these sweet photographs of 'the lady of the house' ... who looks like a kitten but is actually over 15 years old. When I brought this little lady home 15 years ago, I named her Smudge because she reminded me of a palette smudged with oil paint. However, over the years I realized that was not an appropriate name because this little kitten was soft, quiet, delicate, independent and very much of a lady. She knows exactly who I'm referring to when I call 'the lady of the house' or 'little lady' ... and she knows how to get whatever she wants too... she just sits up straight as could be and stares into my eyes ... and I say okay tuna or salmon and somehow I know it's salmon. The Little Lady isn't a cuddly cat, but when she wasn't well a while back she let me hold her, cuddle her and wrap her in a blanket, I could feed her with a spoon and although we would both be covered with food, she tried her best. Somehow I think she knew I was trying to help her get well.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

While walking through the forest path with my brother last year, we came upon a bag noticably tied to a tree. Curious, we looked inside the bag and found a pencil and a journal written by someone who frequented the area. At the end of the author's notes, he wrote a request for hikers to write a word or two about how they felt ... which we did. I thought that was lovely.

Having said that, I took a walk with my camera to the back of our house and came across this plaster casting of hands that I had made over ten years ago. I had made several castings of the hands of my DH and mine, in fact it seemed like every time he walked by I was asking him to put his hand in the alginate one more time. I would stain them and polish them up and put them in a special place in the house. However, with this pair of hands I decided to make a plaster mold instead of using the alginate and wasn't able to remove the hands entirely from the mold ... I tried everything to remove them, soaking the plaster, putting them outside in the rain and the snow, dropping them on the ground ... nothing worked. I didn't have the heart to part with the piece so I left it outside leaning by the tree. Years later, I started to look at this piece very differently, it became symbolic of true love. Over ten years of being exposed to the sun, the rain, hail and snow ... no damage to these hands just a beautiful wear and patina ... I think that is so lovely.

Friday, April 15, 2011

I tried to convey the feeling of joy and romance of a private rose garden with this card.

My father's garden was always over-flowing with tea roses, climbers, floribundas, grandifloras. My mother enjoyed that garden, we all did ... memories like that are precious. There is a lot of layering of different stamps here and the stamps are all from Hero Arts.

I am so happy and excited to have received this most beautiful card along with the prettiest papers from Jacqueline http://myscrapbasket.blogspot.com/ ! I love this card so much! The deep aqua and rose colours are my favourites and I just adore that little chickadee in the nest!! This will always be so very precious to me!! Thank you Jacqueline for sending me this beautiful card and for your thoughts and prayers. I am so appreciative of all of the wonderful messages of support and kindness I have received from so many of the lovely ladies in our flicker family. I thank each and every one of you with all of my heart.

I wanted to share these photos of the two little chickadees who have been coming to visit me. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I'm so happy that Spring has finally come. The rain and thunder storm that we had yesterday has removed most of the snow ... yeah! Thank you for visiting and enjoy your day!

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If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain, if I can ease one life the aching, or cool one pain, or help one fainting robin unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain ... Emily Dickinson

garden rose

About Me

I live in the countryside near a small town in Ontario, Canada. I have always had a passion for painting, hiking and gardening. I love nature and wildlife. More recently, I have developed a love of creating home made cards. I am blessed with a wonderful husband, son, daughter and son-in-law. I would like to welcome you to my blog and hope to inspire you through my creative ideas, designs , home made cards and perhaps a few photos. Thanks so much for visiting. Please come again.